Pentecostal Revival Meetings Started by Black Evangelist William J. Seymour

Timeline of History

Black evangelist William J. Seymour arrives in Los Angeles and begins a series of revival meetings. This "Azusa Street Revival," which would later grow at the Apostolic Faith Mission located at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles, will be key in the development of American Pentecostalism.

An African-American minister born to freed slaves in Louisana, William J. Seymour will have to found his own church at Azusa Street because the church where he starts preaching doesn't approve of his belief in glossalia and other Pentecostal doctrines.

Seymour's Azusa Street Revival lasts from 1906 to 1909 and creates a great deal of controversy among traditionalist Protestants. Some conclude that his doctrines are heretical; others adopt his teachings and begin promoting them in their own churches.